Gujarat High Court fines advocate

The Gujarat High Court Monday fined an advocate for continuing his arguments even after an order was dictated in a land transaction case.

A division bench of Chief Justice S.J. Mukhopadhaya and Justice K.M. Thaker ordered advocate Dilip Shah to pay a fine of Rs.20,000. The money will be deposited with the state legal services authority.

Shah had filed a public interest litigation (PIL) on behalf of petitioner Girish Das challenging a land transaction.

The land in question was allocated to a trust by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation which in turn sold it to an energy company.

The PIL alleged a fraud of Rs.12 crore by the Ben Lilawati Lalbhai Trust and the corporation.

After the hearing, the court dismissed the petition with no order on costs, as it was not inclined to interfere in the matter as the title of the property was in dispute and there was no public interest involved in the case.

However, Shah stood up and began arguing even after the judges had dictated the order.